China Continues to Boost Reform of Central Enterprises

China says it will continue to accelerate the restructuring and reform of the central enterprises, which refers to the large-scale state-owned ones supervised by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.

Director of the Commission, Li Rongrong says the move is an important method to push the central enterprises forward in improving their competitiveness.

Four years ago, China Railway Construction Corp, a central enterprise, restructured with another state-owned company. It's believed that the combination of the two companies' advantages has brought the group success in the overseas market.

In 2006, the group's contract volume ranked the first among all the enterprises dealing with overseas construction projects in China. Now the group has expanded its business in more than 50 countries and regions in the world.

Li Guorui, the board chairman of China Railway Construction Corp., said the restructuring has provided them with good opportunities both in the domestic and international markets.

"We can develop so quickly because we view the international market as important as the domestic market. In 2007, our overseas orders accounted for 37 percent of the total, but five years ago it was only 1 percent."

Just like China Railway Construction Corp, many central enterprises say they have improved their competitiveness through restructuring.

From 2003 to 2006, the number of central enterprises dropped by 8 percent each year, but their profits have increased by 35 percent yearly.

Li Rongrong, director of State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, said the self-innovation ability of many central enterprises is still not strong and their management is not scientific enough. He called on all the enterprises to keep on reforming and optimizing their management.

"China will boost system reformation of central enterprises, encourage them to list overseas, and we will support them in merger and acquisition and restructuring in different forms."

The Commission chief also suggested central enterprises to make more efforts in research and development, to further update the country's industrial structure.